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I A8T SERMON 



f'mX (tuuflvcivitioual Church of 3^lbauy, 



(»I.!> lUMrlv KlUl" 



I \ 1» \ ': !. \ l.\ !.\< .. 1 Miin Ai; \ 



MART 



LAST SEKMOX 



DELIVERED TO THE 



^ix^A Congvcgatioual Church of 3^lbauy, 



OLD BRICK EDIFICE. 



SUNDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 0, 18GS. 



BY TIIK PA-'TOK, 



\[y.\ . \V. S. SM A IIT 






.1 /. /: A .\ )'; 
J u i: L .M I N s i: L L 

1 H (i H . 



^"■p 



i 



CORRESPOXDENCE 



Albany, Ft-b. 11, 1^08. 
Jitc. Win. S. Smart, 

Rev. and Dear Sir : 
The undersigned, liaviii<r listened with much i)leasure to tlie sennon 
delivered by you, in the First C'onirre<rational Church, on tlie occasion 
of our leaving our House of Worship, on the evening of Fe))ruan ilth. 
18G8, woukl respectfully re([uest a cojjy of the same for ])ublication. 

Trulv vours. 



John (i. Thkadwell, 
Jas. McNaugiiton, 
Lawson Anxesley, 
RiciiAKD L. Annp:sley 
M. H. Head. 
Wm. H. Burton, 
S. D. Bkower, 
Walter S. Brower, 
W. L. Lkai{NKI), 



('. P. WUJJAMS. 
WiLLLVM (lOULD, 

Theodore D. Smitu, 

A. S. KiRIJEE. 

Abram Koonz, 
Isaac Edwards, 

B. R. Wood, 
Edward Savage, 
Martin L. Mead. 



(ii:uK(ii: \V. Pierce. 



Ai.KANv, 1m1.. i;;. isiis. 

7o John a. Tread, rdl, C. P. WU linns, 

Jnmiit Mcy<UI,jhtnn \V,n. (Inuhl. null ntin r«. 

Gentlemen : 

In r-onipliuncc with vuur r«(|Uest, I sulnnit for publication a f(>i.y of 
the last sennon preaehed in the First Congregational Cjiunh of 
Allmny, situatt*! on tin* northeast corner of South Pmrl and Heaver 
BtreetM. 

The interest of the occasion, and the rrminis<-enc«s whi<h it awakined, 
I hojK' may impart suHiciint vahn- to the discourse, to justify its 
apiM*anince in print. 



\.Mir In. 11(1 



\N'm. S. Sm \ur 



S E R M O X 



Ami Jesus iccnt out. ami departed from the temple: and his 
disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the t<mj)h\ 

And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things ? verily 
I say unto you. There shall not he left here one stone upon 
another, thof shall not he thrown dow/i. — Matt. xxiv, 1-2. 



It is perhaps impossible for us, at this remove 
from the times of Jesus, to imagine the amaze- 
ment which this remark excited in the simple 
minds of his disciples. They were Jews whose 
national vanity and religious feeling was alike 
gratified by the magnificence of Herod's temple. 
They yet moved in the narrow circle of Jewish 
ideas which limited the work of Jesus to the 
expansion over the world of the Hebrew theo- 
cracy with Jerusalem as the centre. Tt was the 
kingdom of the Jew of which tliey ever thought, 
and not, of that kingdom of (lod wliicli Clirist 
came to l«)iiii(l in lumiaii hearts, witli its universal 
service of truth and spirit. And hence at the 
first moment when the\- are alone, wr find them. 



1 



with awe-struck minds asking for an explanation 
of this event. " When shall these things be, and 
what shall be the sign of thy coming." 

Christ evidently considered the mood into 
which their minds had been thrown by his pre- 
diction, as favorable to a fuller development of his 
ideas about the future. He handles the topic 
with great freedom. He speaks of the conflicts 
which are coming in the world. Wars, famines, 
pestilences, earthquakes, persecutions for right- 
eousness sake, abounding iniquity, the love of 
many waxing cold, some enduring unto the end, 
and the gospel, surviving all shocks and conflicts 
yet holding the final act of the drama back, until 
it shall be preached in all the world, " and then 
shall the end come." The events attending the 
destruction of Jerusalem are depicted, and made 
a type of the final judgment, and of those inter- 
vening days of judgment, through which the 
world must pass to take its place before " the son 
of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power 
and great glory." Then follow a series of para- 
bles in which he describes the great judgment 
itself, and warns his disciples to be in readiness 



for it. The whole scene closes with that final 
separation of the countless multitude, which, to 
the end of time, must thrill all hearts, whenever 
it is seriously considered ; " And these shall go 
away into everlasting punishment; but the 
righteous into life eternal." 

We may well pardon the vanity and Jewisli 
pride of the disciples who came to Christ, to shew 
him the buildings of the temple, and thus fur- 
nished the text, out of which this remarkable 
discourse grew. For the eighteen centuries, which 
have elapsed since it was uttered, are but the 
expansion of its thoughts, furnishing positive proof 
of the far reaching insight of the mind of Jesus, 
and preparing us to receive as authentic his 
declarations concerning!' tilings yet to come. 

It is in these circumstances which attended the 
utterance of this discourse, rather than in the 
words themselves, that the thouLilit lies wliidi is 
applicable to our circumstances to-night. Christ 
had reached that period in his career when every 
event was significant. Thr crisis of his lil'e was 
but a few da\s oil". Thon-h he seciniMl to 
move with the greatest freedom aniouLi- the peoph' 



8 

who thronged Jerusalem, and though no man laid 
hands on him as he taught daily in the temple, it 
was a delusive peace. His death has already been 
determined in secret wrath, and Scribe and 
Pharisee with Judas, the infamous friend, only 
wait for a favorable opportunity, to quench his 
insufferable truth and purity in death. We read 
in the first verse, "and Jesus went out and 
departed from the temple." A very simple act ; one 
he had often performed before. But now it 
possesses new meaning, and suggests high and 
moving thoughts. It is the last time he shall 
ever tread these courts. It is his final departure 
from the temple. Naturally, it suggested to his 
mind the closing up, and passing away forever, of 
the second great epoch of God's revelation to man. 
As Patriarchal had given place to Mosaic, so now 
in this fullness of time, must the Mosaic pass into 
and be eclipsed by the clearer and final revelation, 
the Word made flesh. At the first it was the 
kingdom of God in a family ; then the kingdom of 
God in a nation ; now it is to be the kingdom of 
God in all the world. Formerly men worshiped 
in this place ; now neither in this mountain, nor 



9 

yet at Jerusalem, shall men worship the Father, 
but God everywhere will seek for those who wor- 
ship him in spirit and truth. 

The destruction of such a building as Herod's 
temple, would excite in the ordinary Jewish mind 
nothing but sadness and despair. In addition to 
the historic and religious associations which gathered 
around Mount Zion. Ilerod had designed this work 
to be a monument which should bear his name to 
posterity ; and so had spared no cost or pains to 
make it, as it really was, one of the most remarka- 
ble and beautiful buildings in the world. Even 
Tacitus speaks of the extraordinary magnificence 
of the temple, and Titus would have spared it, 
in the sack of Jerusalem, as a monument of art, 
had not providence gone before him in the torch 
of a Roman soldier. Vet Christ spraks of its 
destruction without cinotion. " W'lily 1 say unto 
you, there shall not be left liere, one stonr upon 
another, that shall not be thrown dow ii."' 

Why he should regard with calnincss an event 
which was full of tei Tor and cxil forebodings to the 
Jewisli mind, may be discovered in thr nature oi" 
the work in which he u as engaged. lie was 



10 

the divine prophet of a new order of things in the 
world. While treating the past with reverence, 
he bestowed upon it, no sickly admiration. As 
the past culminated in him, so the future should 
date from his birth, the rise of a new era. No 
ordinary person was this Son of man. That age 
with its narrow prejudices, its low aims, its hope- 
less, inane formalities in religion, did not produce 
him. The life of Galilee, nor of Jerusalem con- 
tained no germ from which such a fresh original 
spirit could have sprung. He flashes suddenly 
into view, out of surrounding darkness, a new 
revelation from God, a fresh incarnation of divine 
truth ; and his words so wonderfully catholic, so 
true to the simplicities of nature, so full of life to 
all who receive them, are the indisputable proofs 
of his having come from God. Christ wrought no 
miracle so wonderful as this. Before all his works 
he is the grand miracle which attracts the faith of 
the world. Coming forth out of the depths of 
JcAvish prejudice and the interminable traditions 
of the Rabbis he at once assumes the place of the 
world's greatest man. After eighteen centuries he 
is still the world's greatest man. He has never 



11 

been surpassed. To surpass him is iuipossible. 
To come up with him is the utmost that humanity 
may expect; for he is "Jesus Christ the same 
yesterday, and to-day, and forever." 

So elevated a spirit, advaneinii- alonii- the path 
of the kiuiidom of God, miiiht well look witli 
calmness upon the removal of that place, once the 
house of prayer, but now a den of thieves; of 
that place founded to teach the world the love ol' 
God, but now rearing its splendor to cover a fiith 
that shuts all the world, but itself, out from the 
kingdoui of heaven. No magnificence of art. no 
power of man can preserve such a sham, r^et it 
fall, that upon its ruins may rise the enduring struc- 
ture of a universal religion, whose message shall 
be to all of every cliiiK; and age: ''(lod so love(l 
the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that 
wiiosoever belicveth in liim should not perisli. but 
iiave everlasting life." Let it fall. \nv licncerorth 
and forever, the woi'ld needs no saci('(l pl;ice, no 
tem[)le. Its shrine shall be Jesus, its teniplc the 
regenerated himmn life, its prie-thood that of thr 
pure in heart everywhere. Heneelbrth God >liall 
not dwell in temples made with hands, hut in 



12 

every true and beautiful and holy life ; for " know 
ye not that ye are the temple of God and that 
the spirit of God dwelleth in you." The church 
is not the brick or stone, however curiously 
wrought or skillfully put together : the church is 
the body of Christ. " Now ye are the body of 
Christ." 

In accordance with this truth our fathers called 
such places as we are in to-night, not churches, 
but "meeting houses." And although the name 
may sound harsh to our modern ears, and may 
even sound irreligious — as many things the Puri- 
tans said and did appear to some — yet under it is 
a veritable principle. It was but one of the ways 
in which that intensely spiritual age, sought, by 
its scorn of art in worship, to realize the simple 
and direct communion of the soul with God. 
With all our refinements upon this simple order of 
faith, with all our improvements in architecture 
and music, with all our yielding to the demands 
of an age that wants to be religious through the 
eye and the ear, rather than through the heart, 
of an age that wants to be sung into heaven on 
the wings of grand oratorios, and to be preached 



into heaven by the fervor of human eloquence, no 
one can read the history of these much abuseel, 
grand, old Puritans without feeling that they lived 
nearer to Clod, and acted under a luLiher inspira- 
tion of eternal things, than we do to-day. with all 
our art. 

Christ is the life of the world. Men must i^o 
to him to be saved. Whatever then stands 
between the soul's full devotion and Christ, be it 
a church, be it a choir, be it a minister, be it a 
service as rich and beautiful as that of Rome, with 
Herod's temple, let them all perish, that (.'hrist may 
be ^' all and in all."' And they shall. For that 
which could ^ive no reason Ibr beiim- tolerated in 
the da}' of Christ, can gi\'e no reason toi- hciiiLi 
tolerated in this nineteenth century. The world 
will not accept of a reliLiion niodelcfl upon the 
.Jewish idea, hut deniaii<ls and will haxc the tree, 
nnti'amnielecl reli;_iion of t he spiiit which ('hrist in- 
au^Liurated. The faith of the woi-ld seeks lor.Iesns. 
you cannot satisly it with ;inythiiiLi less, excn 
could you reproduce Solomons temple in all its 
glory. Christ has long since (lepai-te(l out of such 
weak embodiments of reliirion. and cl.nins loi- him- 



14 

self alone, the power and honor of salvation. 
When I consider the astounding declarations, that 
this church or that church is the way of salvation ; 
or that such and such rites are necessary to salva- 
tion ; I feel like making the inquiry — not in an 
uncharitable spirit, but because I cannot help it — 
which the angels made of the women who came 
to the tomb seeking Christ : " Why seek ye the 
living among the dead. He is not here, but is 
risen." Yes, risen, infinitely above all such narrow 
restrictions, into the realm of the purely spiritual 
where we must go to seek and find him, the rege- 
nerator of life, the sum of all things to our souls. 
And Jesus went out and departed from the 
temple, departed from it forever, pronouncing its 
woe ; '^ there shall not be left here one stone upon 
another, that shall not be thrown down." Three 
days after he went up to Calvary and laid in his 
death the corner stone of a more beautiful temple ; 
"in whom ye also are builded together for a 
habitation of God through the spirit." 

So we to-night go out and depart forever from 
this sanctuary, so long hallowed by the praises 



.' 



15 

and prayers of God's people, from these wall;^ that 
have echoed year after year with the gospel of 
mercy, from this pulpit where eloquent lips, many 
of them silent now. have proclaimed the name of 
Jesus, from this altar where hundreds have pro- 
fessed their faith in Christ, from these pews where 
we have long worshiped, and where the fathers of 
many of this congregation worshiped, till God 
took them, from this place w^liere this church 
had its first beginning, and has reached its pre- 
sent strength ; leaving such a spot we cannot re- 
press some of the many reminiscences which the 
occasion suggests. There may be lessons to 1)0 
derived from them, which we may well take with 
us, as tending to fulfill the hope in which we 
leave ; that as God has been with us here, so he 
shall be with us whither we go, and that the (k'[)art- 
ing out by the old and tlie looking forward to the 
new, may be ])ut a iy\)(' of a chaniir to j)ass iipcui 
the iinicr bll' ol' the church: whereby all that has 
hindered the comin^L:, ol" the kiiii^doni of (iod shall 
be put off: and a life of purer desotion. of wider 
ser\ ice and luoi-c ('hiist like sj)irit be j)ut ou : Ibr 
theu theic will be uotliiuu to regret hut the (li>a|)- 



/ 



16 

pearance of an old land mark, in this growing and 
prosperous city. 

This edifice was erected by the First Presby- 
terian church of Albany, and it removed here 
from its old house of worship, a wooden structure 
near the northeast corner of Hudson and Grand 
streets, Nov. 20, 1796, a little more than seventy- 
two years ago. This is a long period in the life of 
our city. These years have witnessed that remark- 
ble progress which Albany in common with the 
whole country has experienced. In 1792, four 
years before this church was erected, Albany 
contained only 1,100 houses, and a population of 
less then 10,000. It also marks the increase in 
the value of property, when we say that the lot 
upon which this house stands, valued now at 
$38,000.00, was purchased by the trustees of the 
First Presbyterian church, in 1792, for $275.00. 
We are also reminded that we live in a changed 
world when we read, that in early times it was 
customary to stretch a chain ^ across Pearl and 
Beaver streets, to prevent the passage of vehicles. 



1 This chain was removed about the year 1830. 



during the hours of divine service ; an arrange- 
ment which would have greatly promoted the 
comfort of this congregation of late years, though 
I have my doubts, whether the public generally 
would have regarded it with equal favor. 

In everything belonging to the life of a great 
people there has been a growth, that has surpassed 
the wildest dreams of those who laid the founda- 
tion, of this edifice. 

It would neither be possible nor appropriate to 
notice these changes, which have taken place in 
civil and commercial afiairs ; but Ave may recall 
with jileasure the development of Christian activity 
which has duriuLi this period characterized the 
church. In ITIJO there were no Sabbath schools, 
no Foreign missionary societies, no Bible and no 
Tract societies. All these imillirarious a^nencies 
had not then been IhoULihl of. which are exerting 
SO powerfnl an inlhieiice npon the world lo-ilay. 
With all our deliciencies. as eoniparecl with the 
men ol" the olden times, in these i-espects. so \ital 
to a true conception and realization olthe reliiiion 
of .lesns. we have ad\ance(l Ncry lai- iVoni the 
])()sition then oecnpicd h\ the elini'ch. M\'e!'v 



18 

age must shape its own activities to meet the 
changed circumstances of the world, and this 
departing out of places, and customs, and ideas, 
appropriate and beautiful and true, in the days of 
the fathers, but shows that we like them, are 
living men willing to grapple manfully with the 
problems of our own age ; and so to clear the way 
for the better day to come. 

This pulpit has been occupied by men of earnest 
piety and fervid eloquence. The first pastor who 
preached in this church was Kev. Eliphalet Nott, 
D.D., who was settled in 1798, and remained until 
1804 when he accepted the presidency of Union 
College. He was succeeded by Rev. John B. 
Romeyn who preached until 1808. Rev. William 
Neill was pastor from 1809 to 1816. Rev. 
Arthur Jos. Stansbury from 1817 to 1821. Rev. 
Henry R. Weed from 1822 to 1829. 

From 1830 to 1850, at which time this house 
was sold by the First Presbyterian church. Rev. 
John N. Campbell, D.D., exercised here the office of 
the Christian ministry in a manner that greatly en- 
deared him to his own people, and gave him wide 
influence among the Christian people of this city. 



19 



In 185U this house was purchased by an associa- 
tion of gentlemen, connected with diil'erent con- 
gregations in the city, with a view to the 
establishment of a new religious society of the 
faith and order of the Pilgrims. It resulted in the 
formation of the First Congregational church and 
society of Albany with a membership of eighty 
persons. By them this house was reopened for 
divine service in April, ISoO. In December, 
Rev. Ray Palmer, D.D., accepted the call of the 
church and society, to become their pastor and 
religious teacher, and laljored here successfully 
and acceptably until April ISth, 18GG, a period 
of nearly sixteen years, when having acccj^ted tlie 
secretaryshi]) of the Congregational Union he was 
disinlsscd to his new field of lal)()r. Of those who 
have [)i-eached statedly in this pulpit, hut two are 
now h\iiig, Rev. lieiii-y \l. Weed and \lr\ . lhi\ 
Pahuer, D.l). 

And the same may be said of the iiiajority wlio 
have worshipcjl hei'e. This plaer, which once 
knew them, knows them no nioic I'orcxcr. lOv 
many years this was calletl the ••Court ('hurch." 
because ol" the in;in\ dist inLiuishc(| Licntlciucii 



20 

connected with the government who attended its 
services. There was a pew set apart for the 
governor of the state, and one for the use of the 
city corporation. Such men as Hamilton and 
Burr have often occupied these pews and sat 
entranced under the eloquence which charac- 
terized Dr. Nott in his youthful days. Learned 
councillors, grave statesmen, successful merchants, 
beauty and wit, hearts joyous and sad, age on its 
staff, youth with vigorous step and high hope have 
thronged in these aisles, and looked up to catch 
the words of life from these pews. Where are 
they now ? Alas ! what a picture of the vanity 
of earthly glory. How shadowy do they appear 
to us, to-night, dancing along the same gay ways of 
life, to the same darkness of the grave. What a 
commentary upon the words so often reiterated 
from this place, to dull ears and lifeless hearts, is 
the silence and dust that has gathered over their 
very names. How faint sound the echoes of that 
eloquence — crowning gift of genius to man — 
with which these walls have again and again 
rung. Even those burning, scathing words of the 
funeral oration for Hamilton, which stirred so 



21 

profoundly not only the congregation which heard 
them, warm from the lips of the orator, hut the 
heart of the whole country, have lost much of their 
fire by the lapse of time. It was on that occasion 
that Dr. Xott liave voice to the sentiments of ab- 
horrence against the custom of duelinii' which 
Burr s murder of Hamilton evoked ; and achieved 
for himself the enviable reputation of an orator 
fearless in defense of the truth.^ 

And then there are the personal reminiscences 
and saintly memories, unknown to liiui who ad- 
dresses you, which come over many hearts here of 

" Forms they loved, 
And lips they pressed 
Long BL^o." 

You cannot repress a feeliuL!.- of sadness as you 
say farewell. Voii may liiiLicr to (h'oj) a tear as 
you look lor the last time upon all licrc that 
reminds yon of latlicr and iiiotlicr. of kindred 
and iVirnds. I'licsc changes are sad; bnl life 

' This discourse was jirciclnil liv if<|iic.-t nl" tlir •• iinTcliMiits 
and other citizens of Alhany, l)etore a concourse <»1" pcopU' tin- 
most resjx'ct^ihli! and numerous ever Ijclorc assciuMcd in this 
city, the death of (icn. W 'asliiniitnn cxccptc<l. " in tlic Nmth 
Reformed chuich. .lulv 2:». Hal. 



22 

has ever been, and ever will be, full of such 
reminders^ that this is not our home, that here 
we have no continuing city. It shall be well if 
gathering this lesson from the scenes of this 
parting hour you learn to live as " pilgrims and 
strangers on the earth," as all your fathers were. 
That lesson may be epitomized in the words of 
the holy Scriptures ; " The fathers where are 
they, and the prophets do they live forever!" 

And now my friends you will hear the gospel 
here no more forever. It has been your privilege 
for vears. With faithfulness, the minister has set 
before you your dut}^ ; with tender, earnest entreaty 
he has besought you to be reconciled to God; 
with solemnity and dignity, gathered from the 
word of God, he has reasoned with you of " right- 
eousness, temperance and judgment to come." In 
all this you see the mercy of God, who has spared 
you that you might repent; the love of Christ 
who has waited long to save your soul. Many 
times has the truth and the spirit well nigh over- 
powered your indifference and almost persuaded 
you to be a Christian. And yet — I do not say 
that it is so, God only knows — and yet you are 



23 



not a Christian. Will you turn your back upon 
all these years of mercy, upon this love of Christ, 
upon all the gospel invitations which you have 
heard in this sanctuary, upon all the tender spi- 
ritual intluences which have here rested upon your 
heart ; can you, will you go from this place to- 
night without giving your heart to Christ ? This 
going out from the old tabernacle, is but a shadow 
of another departure which must one day be 
made from the tabernacle of your body. Then 
we all need the " building- of God, a house not 
made with hands eternal in the heavens." Do 
you know that you have such a house ? Do you 
know that you shall one day be clothed upon with 
this house? If you do not, your position is one of 
peril; that ought not to be continued lor a siuLile 
night. As we say farewell to this sauctuary, let 
us say larewell to our past neglect and coldness 
towards the blessed Saviour ; and turniULi our faces 
heavenward, go forth to a ucw life of I'aith ii[)on 
the son of flod. 



01 sacred place consecrated for so many years, 
by psalm and ])rayer. by spirit and truth. l>y 



24 

hours of soul communion with God, we depart from 
thee, and bear hence all that has constituted thy 
glory. Wast thou as fair as Dian's, or the far 
famed temples of Greece, yet might we leave 
thee without regret; for no age nor place can 
contain the Lord we worship. As his presence 
with us has hallowed thy walls, so shall it hallow 
for us other places. And while trade may 
reign here, and the petty interest of time absorb 
the minds of those who stand on this long conse- 
crated spot; the kingdom of God, superior to all 
vicissitudes of man's changing life, to all acces- 
sories of man's devising, shall rise with benign 
light and power, higher and still higher, to bless 
all ages and nations with salvation. 



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